Optical arrangement for selection and detection of the spectral region of a light beam and confocal scanning microscope

Abstract

The present invention concerns an optical arrangement for selection and detection of the spectral region of a light beam ( 1 ) in a confocal scanning microscope, having a means ( 2 ) for spectral dispersion of the light beam ( 1 ), having means ( 3 ) for selecting a definable spectral region ( 4 ), and having a detection apparatus ( 5 ). The optical arrangement should be able to scan or detect multiple narrow-band spectral regions of a spectral region to be detected, in as uninterrupted a fashion as possible and in variably adjustable steps.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. An optical arrangement for selection and detection of a spectral region of a light beam comprising: 
       means for spectral dispersion of the light beam defining the spectrally dispersed light beam in a detection beam path;  
       means for selecting a definable spectral region of the spectrally dispersed light beam; end  
       a moveable single detection apparatus disposed in the detection beam path; and  
       a moveable optical component arranged in the light beam, wherein the optical component and the single detection apparatus are arranged to change a position relative to one another.  
     
     
       2. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the moveable optical component is a mirror rotatable about a rotation axis. 
     
     
       3. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the change of the position between the moveable optical component and the single detection apparatus relative to one another is accomplished by a rotation of the optical component and a shift of the single detection apparatus. 
     
     
       4. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the means for spectral dispersion comprises essentially a prism, a reflection grating or and a transmission grating. 
     
     
       5. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the optical component is arranged before the means for spectral dispersion. 
     
     
       6. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the change of a position between the optical component and the detection apparatus relative to one another is accomplished by a rotation of the optical component. 
     
     
       7. The arrangement as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the change of the position between the optical component and the detection apparatus relative to one another is accomplished by a shift of the detection apparatus. 
     
     
       8. The arrangement as defined in  claim 7 , wherein the shift of the single detection apparatus proceeds along a straight line or a curve. 
     
     
       9. A confocal scanning microscope comprising: 
       a laser light source generating a light beam defining an illumination beam path;  
       a detection beam path defined by the light beam propagating from a specimen arranged with respect to a microscope optical system;  
       means for spectral dispersion of the light beam in the detection beam path,  
       means for selecting a definable spectral region of the light beam,  
       a moveable single detection apparatus in the detection beam path; and  
       a moveable optical component arranged in the detection beam path, wherein the optical component and the single detection apparatus are arranged to change their position relative to one another in order to influence the detected spectral region of the light in a spectrally dispersed portion of the light in the detection beam path.  
     
     
       10. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 9 , wherein the moveable optical component arranged in the detection beam path is a mirror, which is rotatable about a rotation axis. 
     
     
       11. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 10 , wherein the mirror is arranged before the means for spectral dispersion. 
     
     
       12. An confocal scanning microscope comprising: 
       a laser light source generating a light beam, which defines an illumination beam path;  
       a detection beam path;  
       means for spectral dispersion of the light beam in the detection beam path,  
       means for selecting a definable spectral region of the light beam in the detection beam path;  
       a moveable single detection apparatus; and  
       an optical component arranged in the detection beam path, wherein in order to select the definable spectral region, the optical component and the detection apparatus change their position relative to one another.  
     
     
       13. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the optical component is a mirror, wherein the mirror is rotatable about a rotation axis. 
     
     
       14. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the change of the position between the optical component and the detection apparatus relative to one another is accomplished by a rotation of the optical component and a shifting of the detection apparatus. 
     
     
       15. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the change in relative position of the detection apparatus proceeds along a straight line or a curve. 
     
     
       16. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the means for spectral dispersion consists essentially of a prism, a reflection grating, or a transmission grating. 
     
     
       17. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the relative position change between the optical component and the detection apparatus is synchronized with the scanning operation of the confocal scanning microscope. 
     
     
       18. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 17 , wherein a specimen segment is scanned repeatedly with the confocal scanning microscope, at different spectral detection settings each time, until the entire spectral region to be detected has been detected, before a subsequent specimen segment is scanned. 
     
     
       19. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 18 , wherein the specimen segment consists essentially of a point, a line, a straight line, an area or a three-dimensional region. 
     
     
       20. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 17 , wherein synchronization also comprises selection of a light wavelength to be coupled into the confocal scanning microscope. 
     
     
       21. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 20 , wherein selection of the light wavelength to be coupled in is accomplished with an acoustooptical component, for example an acoustooptical tunable filter (AOTF) or acoustooptical beam splitter (AOBS). 
     
     
       22. The arrangement as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the optical component is arranged before the means for spectral dispersion. 
     
     
       23. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 12 , wherein the change of the position between the optical component and the detection apparatus relative to one another is accomplished by a rotation of the optical component. 
     
     
       24. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 23 , wherein a galvanometer is used to accomplished rotation of the optical component. 
     
     
       25. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 24 , wherein the optical component to be rotated is coupled directly to the galvanometer and mounted on the latter's mechanical rotation axis. 
     
     
       26. The confocal scanning microscope as defined in  claim 23 , wherein the rotation is accomplished by the use of piezoelements.